By Beren.C
Part 1 – A brief summary of the film
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas was released in 2008, directed by Mark Herman.The film informs us about the relationship between Bruno, son of a high status Nazi soldier and Shmuel a Jewish kid placed in a concentration camp in Auschwitz during the World War II era. The film set in Germany during the events of the Holocaust helps to display the horrors and brutality of war. Through the eyes of Bruno the film also highlights the innocence of youth along with empathy and consequences of warfare, with the genocide of Jews expressing the prejudice and sterotypical preception of Jews.
Part 2 – Your opinion of the film
Star rating: ★★★★☆
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a historical film based around the Holocaust. My opinion on the film is that it is good but lacks numerous historical areas. Strengths in the film is that it unravels emotional and compelling themes around World War II and the Holocaust. Weaknesses in the film were that there wasn’t enough background information around the historical themes, touching more on the backstory of the event would’ve given more insight about the characters opinions and why their opinionated that way, Informing the audience in a way which we understand. The rating I’d give the film is 4/5. It is a well constructed and powerful film but could have emphasised more on the backstory of the historical events.
Part 3 – Director’s Interpretation
Character 1 Bruno:
Mark Herman acknowledges Bruno's character with a diegetic and non diegetic sound. Herman uses diegetic sound in scenes where Bruno and his family have conversations, which mostly are tense and awkward since Bruno doesn’t fully understand what's happening around him, maintaining him as a curious person and innocent person. Herman uses non diegetic sound applying music over scenes.This is used when Herman applies heartfelt music over bonding scenes with Bruno and Shmeul, contrastingly Herman also applies non diegetic sound when Bruno sees how Pavel (Jew) is treated, overcasting emotional music.
Mark Herman choses to illustrate Bruno's character development with lighting. Throughout the film the lighting used mainly is low-key lighting but around Bruno’s early scenes in the film,the lighting was high-key lighting. This represents his innocence and youthful personality reflecting lighter coloured scenes with warm contrasted tones. This helps create an idea about Bruno and who he is as a character, acknowledging us that he is just a child and unaware of the scenario’s around him.
Mark Herman applies camera angles around the film and especially around Bruno. Specific scenes where Bruno and Shmuel are seen together specifically highlight their status, for instance when Bruno first saw Shmuel across the fence Herman decided to do a ‘low angle’ shot at Bruno showing his much ‘higher’ status aside Shmuel. Herman also uses ‘high angle shots’ when Bruno is interacting with higher status characters like his father and Lieutenant Kotler. Herman uses the camera angle tool to his advantage when expressing power and status upon Bruno and others.
Character 2 Shmuel:
Mark Herman utilises Shmuel's character with camera angles. Herman uses Low angle shots with Shmuel to help depict how powerless he is as well as his vulnerability making him appear small and fragile. Herman also uses Close-up shots to help visualise the emotions and expressions of Shmuel focusing on his face, representing the feelings and emotions of the Holocaust victims. This is shown when Herman uses close-up shots when Shmuel represents fear and sadness.
Mark Herman additionally uses diegetic and non diegetic sounds with scenes including Shmuel. Herman applies diegetic sound in scenes where Shmuel is at the concentration camp; this is shown when the dogs bark, the imprisoned Jews and the shouting of soldiers. Herman also displays non diegetic sound and adds music over scenes. Scenes where Herman uses music are when haunting music is played at the concentration camp as well as emotional music when Shmuel and Bruno are together in the camp. Sound is also with Shmuel when tension arises with Shmuel around soldiers like Lieutenant Kotler and soldiers in the camp.
Mark Herman applies camera shots in scenes with Shmuel. Herman uses close up shots to express Shmuel's fear and resilience throughout his character in the film. Additionally Herman uses medium shots to show Shmuel as well as his surroundings to help describe and add to his character, backing up his situation. Shmuel is also represented through low angle shots emphasising his vulnerability and fragile self.
Part 4 – Essay
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Introduction:
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2008) is a film directed by Mark Herman and is set during the Holocaust. The film revolves around Bruno and his unpredictable friendship with Shmuel. Whilst the film focuses on fictional characters, it does depict accurate events of the notorious time period. The film expresses the true historical events that took place and illustrates how it affects the characters in both positive and negative ways. Through assessing the historical accuracy of the film through sources from that era like posters, survivor stories and diary entries, it is clear that the film is largely historically accurate, with some fictionalised elements.
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Firstly, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas exhibits historical accuracy of the holocaust through its depiction of German nationalism. Herman gives insight into the extreme patriotic themes that the German people, camp guards and even children had towards their country, with father saying that “Those people..well they’re not really people at all, Bruno”. This is accurate and is proven by many posters, newspapers and speeches. One newspaper called “Der Stürmer” (The Attacker) expressed their prejudiced opinions towards the Jews stating “The Jews are our misfortune” another poster in 1940 stating “Victory is with our Flags.”,This helps to support the proud opinions stated in the film and express the accuracy that it has referring to real life events. These sources help state the historical accuracy in the film and stand by the fact that how the soldiers were portrayed in the film were accurate to how they were in real life relating back to their extreme patriotism. Herman alluded to the real life opinions of Nazi soldiers, creating a big influence on his take on the fictional soldiers in the film.
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Secondly, Herman portrays historical accuracy in the film by relating to the true historical event of the time period. This is evident with survivor stories from Auschwitz, help to express their situation during that period. Henry Korman, an Auschwitz and Holocaust survivor expressed his story and how tragic it was. As he says “Auschwitz has been in my head all these years. I just need to close my eyes and instantly the horror comes back to me”. Henry enlightens about his time in Auschwitz, he talks about his profession before the concentration camp and tells about his time at the concentration camp. Henry says that he was given a striped uniform, getting a number tattooed in which is still there, the Jews were also given a status in which they are either there for labor work or sent straight to the gas chamber depending on their physical appearance. This helps to prove that the Jews portrayed in the film were accurate given the similarities with the uniforms, labor work and gas chambers represented in the film. Herman portrays the film and aligns it with the true events that happened during the Holocaust era.
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Thirdly, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is proven to be historically accurate and can be backed up by physical evidence. Diary entries from all ages and genders help to give insight into the situations that happened during the Holocaust from different camps. In many diaries Jews were normally separated from family and loved ones either by being placed in different groups or different camps, many were found in neighboring countries like France and were mainly in hiding, hoping to not be caught and deported. Many went in hiding when finding out that the genocide of Jews began. Vast majority hid with others, in attics or basements or in their own homes hoping to not be found. They expressed their experiences are ‘traumatic’ and ‘unforgettable’ from extremely terrible living conditions to forced labor and death. Many lives were described to be lost from gas chambers but many others were brutally beaten to death and were said to be ‘innocently killed’. Several said that many stereotypes were said about them and made fun of. Numerous explained that to pass the time that they made diary entries or sang songs. It was also said that many died from diseases, starvation and fatigue. This was said to be the “Ghetto disease”. It was also said that most Jews looked sick and lost weight rapidly, some soldiers called Jews “skeletons” and “sticks”. Herman applies minimal insight about this to the film, mainly since it was vastly explicit and traumatising to visually see, even though the film touches lightly on these themes, it was still represented, through the visual looks of the Jews in the film.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, whilst The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is based around fictional characters the historical events that were portrayed in the film were represented correctly. The film depicts harsh realities and discrimination towards Jews, but also how the Nazi soldiers and Bruno’s family viewed them. Alongside much factual evidence, it helps to support the fact that the events portrayed in the film were true and correctly portrayed. This proves that The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is historically accurate and reliable when wanting to shed light on the Holocaust time period.